1.8.1-Columbina
1.8.1 In what Mirror M. Madeleine contemplates his Hair I love the Hapgood Capitalisation of chapter Titles. I also love what everyone else has said about this chapter so now I feel like I have nothing left to add! Whoops. It’s unsurprising that this is the chapter we all flock home to because it’s Symbolism Time, and relatively subtle symbolism for Hugo, as in, it hasn’t been explicitly spelt out for us. I don’t think there’s anything left that I wanted to say that hasn’t been said? Simplice does science, Valjean adds sneakiness to his superpowers; no one is sure how he ever failed as a criminal, “God will inspire us” aka “Damned if I know”, Valjean checks out his new look in the mirror of death, Simplice is going to a lot of roundabout effort to not tell a lie and she is a confusing character, the virginity shoutout is a bit out of place, nothing and everything has changed in two months, Valjean has white hair of purity and Fantine has grey hair of “you tried” purity, that last line is like a kick in the gut. Did I cover everything? I think the only things left that I want to say that I haven’t seen said are that: In the face of all Simplice’s honesty, we have this little exchange: "All that is good," said he; "you were right not to undeceive her." "Yes," responded the sister Simplice, are you straight up admitting to deceiving Fantine, even without telling a lie? If so, then why are you sticking with this no lying business in the first place, what is the point? The branch trembles when a hand approaches it to pluck a flower, and seems to both withdraw and to offer itself at one and the same time. This line kind of weirds me out because I honestly do not know the last time I picked a flower and wow now I sound dead inside, but I live in an apartment and I am too rule-abiding to pick flowers in public places! But I read this line and I was like “Yeah, they totally do that, good call, Hugo!” Like. I remember this feeling but I don’t remember picking flowers? Maybe the line struck me the last time I read it and now I’m just getting deja vu? Who knows. It is all very Inception. Commentary Pilferingapples I have nothing to add to your comments— I’m just glad we’re all coming back now, but I suspect it’s so we don’t have to go through Fantine’s imminent death alone. >_> Also, fighting the urge to go pick a flower just to watch the stem now (I don’t pick flowers, I want them to live, and now I sound like an enormous sap?!? But in many ways I AM an enormous sap, so I ACCEPT THIS.) Also,The Grey Hair of You Tried? I may injure myself in laughing. Kingedmundsroyalmurder (reply to Pilferingapples) I am also so glad that we are all coming back. I have missed this so much. I also cannot remember the last time I picked a flower, don’t worry. I prefer to observe nature from afar and also the only flowers I see regularly are on campus and campus authorities would not approve of picking them. Mostly it’s that nature and I don’t get along very well. Anyway. The Grey Hair of You Tried is the best thing. I went looking for descriptions of the Bishop’s hair, which I didn’t find it so many words (though I didn’t look through the entire section because I am lazy) but I remember it being white. (I’d also completely forgotten that the Bishop was a widower. I want to know about his wife now. Also, she died of a lung disease from which she had suffered for a long time. Not familiar at all, is it? I wonder if any of the Valjean/Fantine shippers have picked up on that minor parallel, especially since during this period the Bishop was also not quite all there in terms of his holiness and purity. Also, look, he too is speculated to have undergone a mysterious and sudden transformation that turned him into a priest. And I’ll stop now, because clearly I just need to make a post about Bishop/Valjean stuff. Have I mentioned that I miss the Bishop a lot?)